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This year was especially special for us because it was our first Christmas with our Mabel! It was also our first year with 2 kids and Santa had to make a few changes as to the amount of gifts he brought. Wink wink, nudge nudge.

Still I think Lorelai made out pretty darn good. I love wrapping presents and setting them all up... definitely one of the better perks of parenthood.

Mae didn't do too shabby either, and although she didn't know one present from 100... the gifts that she got were things that she now, at 6 months old, LOVES!

I think Lo might be a cheerleader when she grows up because she absolutely loves dressing up like a cheerleader, Santa must have known because he got her a new uniform.

And the ONLY thing she asked for this year was Strawberry Shortcake... Santa got the memo.

So did Nana and Papa because they outdid Santa and got her all outfitted for some serious Strawberry Shortcake play.

Anyone who knows Lorelai, knows that she loves to dress up like animals, hair clippies like a rabbit are perfect!

Whose idea was it to give her a drum?? Horrible Santa idea.

After opening all the presents, we noticed one more that was plugged into the wall. We turned it on and WOW! Santa left a blow up house. Super fun!

There were no pics of Mae... probably because she slept right through. She was such a super sleeper at 2 months that there are hardly any pics of her at all... she was always asleep!

Lorelai has been in dance since the summer and finally we got to see all her hard work at her very first recital. Of course, they just mostly stood there and smiled and forgot their steps... but so incredibly cute anyway. I mean, Lorelai was obviously the best dancer up there, but I might be slightly biased.

Here is the proud Daddy with his 2 girls

Mae got all dressed up for the occasion.

Seriously enough to melt your heart into a big ol' puddle...

I chose this pic because my little girl is so well endowed in the rear. I love her little bubble butt.

I even remembered flowers for the little dancer.

She did a great job, I cant wait to see how her dancing progresses and what area she decides to go in.

This year, Thanksgiving weekend was especially busy. We usually have Thanksgiving and decorate our Christmas tree, but we had Ty's birthday and Ty was leaving out of town for a few days. After having almost every holiday at our house, we have the process down! A couple folding tables and table clothes and BAM! Insta-Thanksgiving.

There were a couple of new little people at our holiday this year... Miss Addi was not only here but in a high chair eating real food. How fun!

Look at Mae's little puckered lips... she loves cuddling close to Gramma.

Since Ty's birthday was not only his 30th but also on Thanksgiving day, we skipped the pumpkin pie and had a big ol' Costco cake instead. Yum.

He has one more helper to blow out candles this year...

Here is Grandpa with all 3 of his girls. I wonder if there will ever be a boy in this family?!?!

As daddy was packing to leave us for work for a few days, we were decorating our Christmas tree. Lorelai has put up the angel every year and we have this exact picture every year!

Lorelai's favorite thing about having a little sister is getting to have matching outfits. I'm sure that will change at some point, but for now I will take advantage as much as possible.

For a very brief moment in time, Mae was a thumb sucker. I am sad that this didn't last, but in the long run, I am positive it's a good thing. Thank goodness I will always have the pics to remind me.

Along with dance, gymnastics and preschool, I put Lorelai in soccer so that her and Ty would have an activity Saturday mornings together. Mostly so I could sleep in with Mae.

The lighting is horrible and they were so far away that it was impossible for me to get some good pics, but here are a few of her very last soccer class until we enroll her in a league. It was parent participation, so Ty got to play space rangers and run around goofy with Lo too.

There is just nothing like having your mom there when you have a baby and the time right after, at least having my mom there... probably not just any mom. :)

She loves me and she loves my kids in a way no one else does and no one else will. She knows me so well and she she knows how I do things. I am so lucky that she has agreed both times to come take care of me and my house until I was able to get back on my feet.

My dad and Amy came up after a couple weeks to meet Miss Mae. I can't recall what we did while they were here, so I'm sure it was not much... but I do remember feeling so happy that they were here to meet my new little one.

Ok, no one believed me or my mom that Mae was smiling at just a few weeks old... but here ya go. You tell me she isn't looking at her Nana and smiling? I like Lorelai's smile in this too. hehe

Here's my beautiful sister! Amy was a complete life saver with Lorelai. There were more than a few times I got tears in my eyes because she was so sweet and so patient with Lorelai when Lorelai wasn't exactly exhibiting the type of behavior that would make you want to be sweet and patient with her. She is such a great mom and nothing phases her, I envy that so much.

Wow! Those are some fantasticly young and beautiful and handsome grandparents!

And here's our Mae when she had her old man head. She was such a serious newborn, I'm glad she's lightening up a lot. Lorelai is serious enough for the both of them. She sure was a beautiful newborn though!

A few short weeks after Mabel was born, it was Halloween! Lorelai had picked out her costume 2 months before and since I wouldn't let her wear it until Halloween and she stared at it daily, she was super excited when it was FINALLY time to put it on.

I knew there was no costume small enough for Mae, so I opted for a swaddle blanket and hat (that was still too big) to turn her into a watermelon. But seriously, how cute are they??

Our visit to Grammas house. Considering the year Gramma has had, we are so very lucky to have another Halloween with her. And many more to come!

I love this pic. First of all, Uncle Paul hesitates holding newborns and I have tortured him with both, you can kind of tell :) But look at Lorelai... staring so intently. What a fantastic moment captured. I love it.

Lorelai with her monkey of a cousin, Addison. She adores little Addi.

This is Lorelai's bestie, Sophia. They have been friends since before they were walking, and have seen each other every Halloween too.

And finally...TADA! We were lucky enough to have our Nana this Halloween. She was here for Mabel's birth and Yay! We got her for Halloween. Definitely not something that happens every year, so we are so fortunate to have this memory!

Wow... 9 long months of nausea, puking, mystery rashes, hernia, acid reflux, esophagitis, ER visits, weight retention and who knows what I am forgetting. Of course there were so many good things... I absolutely love being pregnant. I love feeling the kicks, I love having the life grow in me, so I would obviously do it over again. Call me crazy! :)

I was convinced that I wasn't able to go into labor on my own and just like every 9 month pregnant lady, I got super antsy towards the end. But, just as labor goes, I started getting really bad contractions and bloody show on the night of the 11th. Since I was induced with Lorelai, my reaction was to freak out. If you had been on the outside looking in without volume, you would think there was a fire. My great aunt and uncle were here for a visit and I felt horrible to break it up after 15 minutes... but I was freaking. Everyone dispersed... Ty was collecting things, I was panicking... mom was trying to calm me down.

Kim and Nancy were going to watch Lo and were on their way, but again... there was a fire... I was freaking... so my aunt and uncle sat with Lo until they got there. We arrived at the hospital and got settled into a room. They hooked me up to moniter my contractions, which were pretty strong and regular. The nurse asked my pain management goals and before I really knew what I was saying, I heard myself utter the words "natural childbirth". I hadn't made a choice one way or the other so I was surprised I was so quick to blurt it out, but I'm a daring girl... figured I'd roll with it for a while.

Hours and days and years passed... ok, maybe just hours, but holy cow it felt like forever. It was rush rush rush and everyone come to the hospital and then as I'm laying in the bed with everyone staring at me like "ok, we're ready!" Well, Mabel was not ready. So as the time went on, people gave up on me and left the hospital. All that was left was Nancy, Mom and Ty. My mom and I walked the hallways, stopping as the contractions got worse and worse. Since I was having natural childbirth, I wasn't hooked up to anything and was able to take a bath. I never understood people who had water births, but now I get it. The water relieves so much of the pain!

After my first bath I was hurting bad and when I get hurting, I get GROUCHY! I was getting the hospital gown back on and a HORRID contraction came on. Ty came into the bathroom to tell me there was a nurse change and they wanted to talk to me. Seriously? I'm in the middle of a contraction, doubled over in pain, trying to breathe through it and this man, the one who did this to me in the first place, wants me to walk into the room and talk to the nurses because of a shift change? Needless to say, not nice things came out of my mouth, things that would offend most truckers. I say most because there are those ones that murder hookers and stuff them in the cargo area... I'm pretty sure it wouldn't have offended them.

So after the shift change, I was back to walking, swaying, cursing. In that order. Questioning myself but I've already said "natural childbirth" and the nurses were encouraging me and being so nice... so I kept up the charade and acted like I wanted to do this. Meanwhile "stupid, stupid, stupid" was running through my head.

Then the bomb hit... or at least that's what it felt like and suddenly the pain was more than I could bare. I knew it was time to push but wanted, no needed something to take it ease it. I don't think any mother could put the pain into words. I would imagine sticking a burning hot iron fire poker up into the nether regions would feel pretty good comparatively. The nurse got authorization to put something into my iv. To this day, I don't remember what it was. I do know it wasn't anything that took even a shred of the pain away, but it did make my head float above my body so I was able to think it through and stay in the moment.

I should mention that the nurse that was currently on duty had a nurse in training with her. This poor, poor nurse had no idea what was coming to her.

So my head is floating, they are putting my legs in stir-ups... I know my mouth is saying things I have NEVER said before in my life and I am unable to control it. I know I am embarrassing my mom and Ty because they both have this uneasy look on their face. The same look they would have if I came out of the bathroom naked in a 4 star restaurant. But I have no control, so I don't spend much time trying. I start pushing and the doctor isn't there yet and I hear someone say "stop pushing until the doctor gets here" and I really lost it. I have half of a head poking out of my vagina and you want me to stop pushing until it's more convenient for them???? NO WAY! Luckily it was at that second the doc walked in and I could resume pushing.

This is when the poor, poor NIT (nurse in training) comes into play because it was at that second that I shot a cannon of amniotic fluid all over that poor girl. Down her legs, I'm pretty sure I heard sloshing in her shoes as she walked away with the most mortified look on her face. I'm pretty sure nothing that had happened to her in her life had prepared her for that moment.

I instantly went into apologies, but there was no time because Mabel was a few pushes away. More pain and I'm telling my mom "this is just stupid, absolutely stupid" and "why am I doing this" and then the last shot of pain and she was here. Perfect, little 7lb 9 oz little Mabel. Looking nothing like her sister but weighing only a 2 ounces less and 1/2 inch taller. It was amazing, just like with Lorelai.

In the hours that followed there was a stream of people in and out to meet little Mabel but then the nurse and the NIT came in and told me I needed to go to the bathroom and get changed. Again, to this nurse, I am SOOOO sorry because as they stood me up, we quickly learned that the blood had been pooling inside me and there was a downpour. It splashed all over the poor nurse that had just changed into new scrubs. Again, the look on her face is burned into my memory and I am quite certain I am the worst patient she has ever encountered. Then my head started to float again and they were telling me to do things but I couldn't think quick enough and there was blood all over and wow. That was almost worse than the birth.

But then there was Mae... so sweet and little and REFUSING TO SLEEP!!! I hadn't slept at all the night before and I just had natural child birth and I was tired. Everyone had left to sleep and there I was with a baby that wouldn't sleep. She was crying and just wanted to suck and suck. The nurse came in and tried to get her to sleep and was unsuccessful, so she called in the lactation nurse that finally got her to sleep with the shooshing in her ear and a pacifier. She tucked her in next to me and we slept for an hour or so.

Lorelai was so quick to love her sister but so quick to get jealous too. She had been everyone's center of attention for so long and suddenly mom was glued to this baby and everyone is making a fuss over her. That started about 10 weeks of hell. Things are much, much better now. But for an entire 10 weeks, my 3 year old was replaced with the devil himself.
Anyway, that's neither here nor there because this Mae's birth story and that's how it went. Sorry for the detail, I have a bad memory and I wanted to remember every detail I have hung onto for 12 weeks. I'm sure there is much, much more that I have forgotten... but that's probably for the best. So she's here, our little Mabel Campbell Walker. She is so sweet and so kind and so quiet and is ALREADY SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT, so of course she's my favorite kid already. Just kidding mom... Lorelai is smarter so she's my favorite. ;) Ty is going to make fun of me for the next part, but we are so truly blessed. Both our girls are so beautiful and smart and easy to love. Can't wait for the next one! Right Ty????

My baby shower was so amazingly fun. The games were so incredibly fun. We were put in pairs and had to match up little tiny baby socks. I was pretty confident since I'm pretty sure Lorelai has never owned 2 pairs of socks that were the same... we did good, but Laura and Kim still beat us. They were the hosts, so I got the prize anyway. :)

The next game was pairing up and feeding each other an entire jar of baby food. Whoever got through the jar the quickest won. This is Nancy's face after tasting her baby food. I made it through one bite and ended up dry heaving in the bathroom. It was mac and cheese flavored apparently but I have a very weak gag reflux while I am pregnant... so it did NOT go well.I will never forget how funny it was watching everyone else eat this disgusting baby food. This was the best baby shower game that I will reuse for anyone I get to throw a shower for in the future... beware!There was also a purse treasure hunt. I have EVERYTHING in my purse, but I just barely had cleaned it out and lost at this game too. Laura really did have everything... EVERYTHING! hahaI want to put up the picture of my cake, but it was a little on the racy side so I will refrain. Let's just say it had a barbie giving birth on it. That's why I love my friends, such a great sense of humor.

I wish there was a way to show how cool the penguin tank was. It was awesome to see them swimming all over from the top and underneath water!

haha, I had to take this pic!Lorelai is so in love with animals, particularly hippos, rhinos, giraffes and zebras. She saw this giant hippo and freaked out. She totally ended up with her foot stuck in mud, but I had to let her do it.Here's my little giraffe with the giraffes. She met her most idolized animal, it was such a great moment. They let you feed the giraffe for $5 but the line was SO long and we eventually gave up. I will have to take her back on a weekday and try again. No zoo trip is complete without a carousel ride!My mom tried to surprise me for my baby shower, I ended up finding out, but I was just as happy as I would have if I had been surprised. I couldn't believe she was coming just for the shower. Ahh, it was a breath of fresh air! While she was here, we went to the Woodland Park zoo. I haven't been to that zoo yet, so it was fun to experience it for the first time with Nana.